170 THE PEARS OF NEW YORK 



setts Horticultural Society in the years 1872, 1874, 1875, and 1876 it was 

 shown and favorably reported on, and in 1875 received high praise in a 

 report of the Massachusetts State Fruit Committee to the American Pomo- 

 logical Society. In 1877 the latter Society added Frederick Clapp to its 

 list of fruits recommended for general cultivation. 



Tree large, vigorous, upright-spreading, with open top, hardy; trunk thick, shaggy; 

 branches stocky, shaggy, zigzag, dull reddish-brown, overspread with thick ash-gray scarf- 

 skin, marked with many small lenticels; branchlets thick, dull reddish-brown, tinged 

 with green, smooth except for the lenticels, glabrous, with many small, raised lenticels. 



Leaf-buds small, short, conical or pointed, plump, usually free. Leaves 3 in. long, 

 ij in. wide, ovate, stiff; apex taper-pointed; margin finely serrate, tipped with very fine, 

 sharp-pointed, reddish-brown glands; petiole i^ in. long, slender, glabrous. Flower-buds 

 small, short, conical, plump, free; flowers cup-shaped, often with a disagreeable odor, 

 i in. wide, averaging 9 buds in a cluster; pedicels i in. long, thick, pubescent, pale green. 



Fruit ripe in October; medium in size, more than 2 in. long, af in. wide, variable in 

 size, roundish or obovate, irregular in shape; stem f in. long, thick; cavity variable in out- 

 line and smoothness, often with a fleshy fold drawn up around the base of the stem; calyx 

 open; lobes short, broad, obtuse; basin deep, wide, abrupt, usually smooth, symmetrical: 

 skin thin, tender, smooth; color lemon-yellow, often marked with flecks and mottlings of 

 russet; dots numerous, small, russet, obscure; flesh with a very faint tinge of yellow, fine, 

 tender, melting, characteristically juicy, sweet, with a rich sprightliness; quality very good. 

 Core closed, axile, with clasping core-lines; calyx-tube very short, wide, broadly conical; 

 carpels obovate; seeds large, wide, long, plump, acute. 



GANSEL SECKEL 



i. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 502. 1857. 2. Ibid. 770. 1869. 



Gansel-Seckle. 3. Jour. Hort. N. S. 20:30, fig. 1871. 4. Hogg Fruit Man. 585. 1884. 5. Jour. Hort. 

 3rd Ser. 23:464. 1891. 6. Bunyard Handb. Hardy Fr. 177. 1920. 



There are no good reasons why this pear should be grown, it having 

 received much more attention than it deserves during the half century it 

 has been in America. Perhaps it suffices to say that the fruits and trees 

 are in no way equal, except in size of fruit, to those of Seckel, with which 

 variety it would compete, although the crop ripens a little later. While 

 the pears are larger than those of Seckel, the yield is not as great as the trees 

 do not bear as regularly, nor abundantly. The fruits are not as well 

 flavored, nor as attractively colored. The variety is still offered by many 

 nurserymen, most of whom, however, condemn it with faint praise. 



According to Bunyard, Gansel Seckel was raised from seed a century 

 ago by a Mr. Williams of Pitmaston, Worcester, England. It was obtained 

 by crossing Seckel with Gansel Bergamot, whence its name. 





